Obama’s Choice to Run U.S. IRS Worth Up to $27.4 Million

Richard Rubin

September 9, 2013, 12:00 PM EDT

John Koskinen, nominated to become U.S. Internal Revenue Service commissioner, has a net worth between $7.1 million and $27.4 million, according to a financial disclosure released by the administration.

Koskinen said in a letter that if confirmed by the U.S. Senate he will sell stock holdings to avoid conflicts of interest and resign as a director of AES Corp. and American Capital, Ltd.

Federal law requires nominees to report their holdings in broad ranges. Koskinen, 74, is a former chairman of Freddie Mac who ran the government’s effort to prepare for computer glitches on Jan. 1, 2000.

His largest holdings, between $1 million and $5 million each, are a Vanguard Group Inc. money-market fund and his restricted stock in AES, a global power company. The totals don’t include the worth of his vested options in American Capital, a private-equity firm and global asset manager, because the value was “not readily ascertainable,” he reported.

Among Koskinen’s stock holdings are many of the largest U.S. companies that are subject to audit by the IRS, including Apple Inc., Chevron Corp. and Google Inc.

The Senate Finance Committee hasn’t scheduled a confirmation hearing on the nomination, announced by President Barack Obama on Aug. 1.

The IRS hasn’t had a Senate-confirmed commissioner since November 2012, when the term of Douglas Shulman expired. Obama forced out acting commissioner Steven Miller in May after the agency apologized for giving extra scrutiny to Tea Party groups.

Danny Werfel, controller of the Office of Management and Budget, is the current acting commissioner.

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